Torres Shire Mayor keen on council‑run construction consortium

Torres Shire Mayor Pedro Stephen says jobs and training in the building sector will be on the agenda when Queensland Premier Campbell Newman and his Cabinet ministers visit the far north region on Sunday.

Councillor Stephen wants to set up a local construction consortium to train and employ locals, as well as improve infrastructure in the region.

He says there are not enough job opportunities in the region.

"I believe that we have a greater capacity to set up a Torres Strait construction arm - a consortium that will benefit both the Government and the community," he said.

"You could actually have the training and have a construction arm that will build infrastructure and maintain infrastructure.

He says there are lots of organisations offering training opportunities but no local jobs afterwards.

"They're supposed to train them for jobs but they can't place them in jobs," he said.

"If you have a local construction consortium set up, you could actually do the maintenance of all the major infrastructure in the region, actually building new infrastructure and actually assist in the western province of Papua New Guinea."